


slowly, slowly, then all at once

by empyrean_love



Category: Lovelyz, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25569409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empyrean_love/pseuds/empyrean_love
Summary: Seo Jisoo as a struggling artist making street caricatures for a living.Joshua as a not-so-struggling musician hopping from one street to another busking.
Relationships: Hong Jisoo | Joshua & Seo Jisoo, Hong Jisoo | Joshua/Seo Jisoo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	slowly, slowly, then all at once

**Author's Note:**

> First (finished) fic in nearly a decade of fandom and still absolutely unbetaed.

Jisoo’s companions for about six months have finally moved up in life, the five-piece band having landed a regular gig at a nearby bar. What this means is that the space in front of the artisan yogurt shop on her street is now the domain of a dude with a guitar. Guitar dude was nice enough, always taking the time to flash a smile at her as he was setting up. He even asked how much a caricature of him would cost, though Jisoo sternly told him that regular fees apply, even for those who have mastered acoustic renditions of Maroon 5’s entire back catalogue. She won’t deny that her heart sped up a little at the sound of his laughter, but beyond that first conversation, they had not interacted meaningfully. Still, he seemed pretty cool. If only overly-enthusiastic teenagers weren't most of the crowd that gathers to watch him, his being on the same street would be cool too. Jisoo needs to pay her rent damn it, and he’s scaring away the tourist families. 

As the strains of yet another mellow coffeehouse song start up, Jisoo tightened the grip on her pen. She’s been trying to ignore the noise, she really has been but it’s exponentially more difficult to concentrate when there’s constant cheering and clapping and fawning all over a guy with a guitar. 

There must have been a frown on her face because the woman posing for her portrait hesitantly asks if she was OK in halting Korean. Jisoo looks up, inwardly cursing. Hurriedly  
assuring the other woman that she was fine and was just concentrating really, really hard on the portrait, they both settled down, allowing Jisoo to finish up within minutes. She made sure to package the picture up neatly, choosing the prettiest frame she had. She only allowed herself to relax once she thanked the customer profusely and waved her off. That was her fourth customer this week, and it was already Saturday night. 

A burst of cheers shook her from introspection. Guitar Dude had finished up his set and was now addressing his adoring audience. A wave of something ugly came over Jisoo and before she had the chance to think, she began to render him on the canvas, making sure to capture every detail of his face - except for his nose. That was replaced by a very phallic looking shape, crudely drawn in pen. It seemed fitting, the juxtaposition of classic looking features with the equivalent of a fourteen-year-old’s idea of provocative graffiti. Subversion of expectations and all that. Much like how he subverted her expectations of being an everyday struggling street performer and instead turning out to be a rather talented guitarist and vocalist that already possessed legions of fans. 

Scrutinising the portrait/caricature further, she seriously considered if this might be avant-garde enough to upsell to one of her snobbier friends.

‘Is that a dick on my face?’  
Jisoo snapped around, half-expecting the voice to be a figment of her imagination. She had been getting very little sleep lately, up late worrying about how she was going to pay rent this month. But as her luck would have it, there he was in the flesh, carrying his guitar case on his back. The groups of stragglers from his crowd whom he would usually entertain were still around. So, why is he talking to her?

“Why are you talking to me?” 

She regretted it as soon as his eyebrows shot up. Strike 2, Jisoo. First, she gets caught drawing indecent material on someone’s face and now she probably offended him even more with her outburst. If she hadn’t probably already needed to move in hopes of better tourist-snaring prospects elsewhere, now she definitely has to, at least the next street over.

“Well, I wanted to ask about a couple of things,” he stated, looking rather bemused. Gesturing to the seat for her customers, he asked, “But can I sit first?.

She nodded. Common courtesy was the least she could do. 

Shrugging off his guitar case, he settled onto the chair, looking not unlike a nervous elementary school student about to take his first picture. The artist in her notes that she failed to accurately capture how swoopy his hair was up close.

“When do you get the most customers?”

Of all the questions, that, she did not expect.

“Usually weekends, during dinnertime. Tourist families are usually around this street then.” They were still around, but they almost to a fault swerved round the stretch of sidewalk she and guitar dude were on. Most likely to avoid the gaggle around him that almost always encroached on her territory and sometimes even spilled over onto the road. She made sure to omit this grievance from her answer though. 

To her surprise, he visibly winced. “Not too many lately though, huh.”

She shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Yeah.”, he echoed. “So I’ll move to the next street over.” 

What?

“What?” she blurted out. Instead of another confused expression, he let out a laugh. Just like the first time they spoke, her heart skips a beat.

“I noticed you weren’t getting much traffic since I started coming to this street. It couldn’t have been because you were bad, because I’ve noticed your displays.” He gestures around her area at the various caricatures and portraits she had put up. “So I figured it must have been because of me.”

“Yeah, but.” It’s difficult to find the right words. Not only had he noticed she was struggling but he was actually moving? Because of her? The far less successful one? The entire situation was so far beyond her wildest dreams that she didn’t know whether to thank him or lean over and hug him. 

Guitar Dude must have misinterpreted her silence because he rushed in to say, “I mean, you have been here a longer time and people must recognise you by now. It’s only fair that I move, especially since I’ve caused you all this trouble.”

Only at this point did Jisoo remember she had just drawn a penis on the face of this angel. 

“Oh my God”, she moaned, her face in her hands. 

The man in front of her looked stricken, “Oh man, I’m so so sorry.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s this.” Might as well absolve herself of guilt entirely. She turned the easel around, so he can see the dick-nose in full glory.

“Oh yeah, that.”

“That’s all you have to say?” This is getting ridiculous. Nobody on this earth should be this cool with having a total stranger replace your nose with a penis, no matter how angelic you are. 

He smiled. “I would be mad at me too if I were you. Besides,” a sudden glint in his eyes appeared, “I can just commission you to draw yourself with the same exact nose.” 

Jisoo laughed despite herself. “Full price still,” she reminded him. 

“Of course, I would expect nothing less.” His eyes, crinkled up before, turned nervous again. 

“Wanted to ask you something else too,” he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Jisoo raised an eyebrow at him.

“Do you wanna go get some supper together?” He paused for a moment, then hastily added, “If you want to, of course. No pressure. I’ll still move no matter what.”

To be honest, Jisoo doesn’t want to start anything up. She’s busy with art school, with pulling evening shifts with the street artist thing, with trying to make her name in the industry. She’s sacrificed too much into her professional life to just end up hitching her wagon to some dude and having 2.5 kids with him. 

But something tells her that wouldn’t be the case with him, that she could take all the time she needed and he’d understand. That he’ll still be here, waiting, for her to give an answer.

She smiles back at him, cataloguing the features of his face that were already becoming familiar to her. “OK.”

**Author's Note:**

> not Too Satisfied with the ending but oh well. Hoping to take advantage of the creative renaissance I've been going through lately and churn out some more ideas that have been laying dormant for years. At this point, getting something out is better than nothing.


End file.
